In wireless communication networks, signal quality (e.g., signal strength) measurements are used, for example, to provide a wireless device (also known as user equipment or UE) with essential information about strength of a cell of the network in which the UE operates. In a coordinated transmission environment, such as a Coordinated Multipoint Transmission (CoMP) environment operating in a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, reference signal-based signal quality measurements may be used for determining the optimal transmission points for the UE, for example, in a CoMP set having one serving base station and multiple additional transmission points (e.g., picocells or remote radio heads (RRH)) assisting the base station. For example, channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS)-based signal quality measurements may be used to identify candidate coordinating signal transmission points. In order to improve accuracy of signal quality measurements, power boosting on CSI-RS may be employed. More specifically, some CSI-RS may be transmitted with artificially adjusted (e.g., increased or decreased) power levels in order for receiving UEs to perform accurate signal quality measurements.
Signal quality measurements may include a signal power-specific characteristic, such as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), which among other signal quality measurements may be reported to the higher layers in an LTE network and may be used for a variety of purposes including intra- and inter-frequency handover, inter-radio access technology handover, timing measurements, and other purposes in support of resource management (RRM) functions in LTE environment.
However, power boosting of reference signals used for signal quality measurements by UE may affect the accuracy of signal quality measurements. For example, the power level measured on power-boosted CSI-RS may be different than the actual received power from the transmission point. Accordingly, wrong assumptions may be made regarding actual signal quality of a particular transmission point or a base station when calculating a power signal-specific characteristic, such as RSRP. As a result, due to incorrect signal strength estimation, a particular base station or transmission point may be erroneously included in, or excluded from, a list of candidate transmission points for a particular UE.